How are we going to get out of this? We have an army of undead all around and god knows where we are! I know that there is little to no chance of us surviving, even if we make it through this challenge, there will just be another waiting for us. And while the enemy grows with each fallen survivor our numbers only grow smaller, and our resources dwindle more and more. What’s the point in fighting, if there’s no hope of victory?

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Sunday, July 12, 2015

Haven Chapter 13

Chapter
13

‘What’s your name?’ I asked

The girl turned her head away

‘How long have you been here?’

Still she gave me no response

‘Are there any others here, or
anyone who will be returning?’ I didn’t expect a response and I didn’t get one,
but this time she looked straight at me with an icy glare. She couldn’t be
older than 16, 15 maybe, and she was thin, most likely this place was the first
source of food she had found for a few weeks. Part of me sympathised with her,
but I knew I could let my guard down regardless of her age or condition. And
after some arguing Nicole reluctantly bound her to the bed.

I left the make shift room we had
constructed and found Will, Nicole, Brooke, Daniel, and Connor waiting for me. ‘Did
she say anything?’ Connor asked quietly, as if worried she was here

‘No,’ I answered trying to think

‘That’s not surprising considering
she doesn’t have any reason to trust us,’ Nicole sighed, she’d obviously tried
before

‘No it’s not like we took care of
her and fed her even after she harmed one of our own,’ Brooke pitched in
sarcastically

I ignored her and turned to Nicole, ‘how
is she doing?’

‘She had a pretty bad cut from some
broken metal and, I think, a concussion. She’s lucky she didn’t lose too much
blood there’s no way to replace it.’

Brooke walked off shaking her head
as the rest of us stood thinking, after a while I suddenly had an idea. ‘Connor,
you should talk to her,’ I suggested a little too enthusiastically

‘Me?’
Connor pointed to himself confused, ‘why? I mean I’m happy to give it a try but
interrogation isn’t my forte, neither are teenage girls for that matter’

‘Weren’t
you a police officer?’ Will joked

‘Yeah,
an officer not a detective’

‘No
that’s what I mean,’ I interrupted, ‘as Nic said she has no reason to trust us,
but you were a police officer, she’ll trust you’

‘I think you’re over estimating
people’s trust in the police,’ Daniel pitched in, but after Connor shot him an
annoyed look he raised his hands and walked off. ‘Alright,’ Connor conceded eventually,
‘I’ll show her my badge and do my best but don’t expect miracles.’

Connor
went through to her room and Nicole left to check on Malcolm. When we were
alone Will walked over, ‘Todd I want to apologise’-

‘No
its me that should apologise,’ I stopped him, ‘I over-reacted and shouldn’t
have flown off the handle like that’

‘But
still,’ he put up a hand to stop me interrupting again, ‘I want you to know
that if we’re ever in that position again, your gone and we’re left behind, you
can trust me to take care of things here.’

I
nodded, unsure of what to say as he walked off. In the beginning Will had been
more grounded than me, I had refused a leadership role out of fear and Will had
stepped up. So what had changed? Why was it that he was so fragile?

I
knew the answer as soon as I had asked the question. We still didn’t know the
full story of what happened at the hospital, with Caleb, with his mother. And I
doubt we’ll ever know, I just have to help him find his stable ground again, or
hope that he finds it himself.

…

I had wondered over to the larger
area of the warehouse were we had set up the food and was sitting with Jade
when Connor came up to me. I raised my eyebrows in an unspoken question and he
shook his head back. ‘She seemed to relax a bit more, but she still wouldn’t
talk,’ he explained disappointed

‘It’s all right, it’s a step in the
right direction at least,’ I tried to boost his spirits, no doubt his friend’s
condition worried him and he would rather be helping him than questioning a
prisoner.

I noticed Lauren with a large amount
of food a few metres away. ‘Hungry are you?’ I asked sarcastically

She laughed back oddly, ‘no its for
Chris, and our… guest too.’ I had forgotten she was helping out Nicole with
taking care of the medical stuff. An idea began to form in my mind, ‘hey
Lauren, wait.’

…

I hid in Malcolm’s room, only a thin
sheet of cloth separating this one and our guest’s. I heard Lauren enter, and
set a tray down on a bench near the bed. ‘I know its not very nice,’ she said a
bit loudly and I cringed, worried she would give us away, ‘but if you have any
preference just speak up.’ I remembered high school drama class and
reconsidered putting Lauren up to this task. But as Lauren prepared the food my
doubts disappeared. ‘Anything’s fine,’ the girl spoke quickly.

I moved to a gap between to sheets,
and I could see the girl eyeing the food hungrily. I grinned, I thought that
maybe if we didn’t just interrogate her she might actually open up, and it
seems I was right. Lauren jumped slightly when the girl spoke, but quickly
recomposed herself, ‘do you have any allergies?’ she recited one of the
questions I gave her, the more we got her talking the more likely it was that
she would keep talking. ‘Gluten, or’-

‘No its fine,’ she interrupted
Lauren clearly eager to eat a proper meal, well, as proper as things get in
these situations. ‘I’m Lauren by the way,’ Lauren spoke pleasantly, clearly
happy she was succeeding, but she was only met with silence and an odd stare
from the girl.

She pulled at her bonds to draw
attention to them, ‘I can’t eat with these on,’ she said carefully. But as
Lauren picked up a spoon and prepared to spoon-feed her porridge she groaned
and pulled away. Lauren gave her an odd motherly look and eventually the girl
sighed and let Lauren feed her.

Things were going quite well in my
opinion, they were clearly building a rapport, sparse as it might be. What I
didn’t count on was my cover being blown by the one person we didn’t inform of
the plan. ‘Todd? What are you doing here?’ Malcolm groaned as he rolled over in
bed. I saw the girl spin her head around at the sound, and as we made eye
contact and knew our plan had failed, and the girl spat a mouthful of porridge
at Lauren you quickly left the room.

Nicole rushed into the room after
hearing Malcolm wake up, smiling wide. I was pleased, probably more than I felt
at the time, that Malcolm was okay, but it couldn’t have happened at a more inopportune
moment, we her finally getting somewhere. I ran into Lauren and everyone else
outside, ‘I’m sorry,’ she said shakily

‘You have nothing to be sorry for,
you were doing great,’ I reassured her, ‘we were just unlucky is all. And lucky
at the same time I guess, Malcolm’s awake’ everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Apart from Brooke and Monica who were keeping watch everyone had gathered
around to see how things went.

Nicole eventually came out of the
room, still smiling thankfully. ‘Everything looks fine, as far as I can tell
anyway,’ she explained, ‘but things could still go badly, just like last time’

‘But he’s got a better chance now
right?’ Connor asked concerned

‘Oh yes,’ Nicole said almost
laughing with relief.

But our celebration was cut short as
we had the clatter of metal hitting concrete from inside the girl’s room, then
ripping fabric. We rushed in, somehow she had got a hold of a knife Lauren had
taken in with her and gotten free. We followed her through the hole into the
meal area. ‘Stay away from me!’ She yelled, waving the knife around wildly, but
as Chris and Connor raised their guns she let out a sound like a sob and dropped
the knife. I could see her desperation, and then somehow I knew, I knew she was
not a threat to us.

I made a gesture with my hand and
the others lowered their weapons, but I didn’t stop Daniel and Jade from edging
behind her and blocking any escape. ‘We don’t want to hurt you,’ I spoke softly
and tried to reason with her

‘Is that why you tied me up?’ she
asked, obviously afraid but still defiant, ‘interrogated me?’

‘We couldn’t trust you as much as
you couldn’t trust us,’ as I spoke I realised what I had to do. I pulled my gun
from my holster and she flinched, but slowly I put it on the floor, sliding it
over with my foot. ‘Todd!’ Jade protested, but I silenced her with a nod

‘I’m giving you a choice, you can
take this gun, some supplies, and leave. We won’t stop you,’ I knew I was
taking a risk, but I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t try and help her. She
picked up the gun, but didn’t point it anywhere, I took that as a sign to
continue, ‘or, you can tell me your name, and you can stay here, with us.’

There were several long minutes when
everyone was tense. And we all jump when we heard the gun fall to the floor, as
she softly spoke, ‘Emma, my name is Emma.’